Seconds to midnight
by sas.90
Summary: Will she be there? Or will his entire plan be destroyed? New Year's eve fic. Have a good 2008


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**Seconds to midnight.**

Dark, rainy. It seemed like there wouldn't be a lot of fireworks tonight. Sure there would be some die-hards standing in the rain, giving colourful shows for their public but he sure as hell wasn't going to go outside in this weather. He'd stay inside warm and comfy surrounded by the chatter and laughter of those people he loved. Booth relaxed his tense shoulders and turned away from the window, his hands in the pockets of his casual jeans.

His brown eyes scanned the crowded bar and the people moving across the space. He spotted Angela and her boyfriend downing their drinks to see who emptied the small glass the fastest. And Zach, Booth grinned, Zach watching them his eyes wide and round in admiration. As Booth continued the scan the room he saw more of his friends and colleagues having fun, no one seemed to be missing her.

Except for him, because she was late.

He glanced at the clock on the wall and rolled his eyes. Very late. The countdown would start in ten minutes and he wondered where she was. Stuck in traffic? Not ten minutes to midnight. Everyone would be sitting in their houses watching the TV, there would barely be any traffic. Maybe she had a flat tyre? Taking his cellphone out of his pocket Booth moved across Wong Foo's until he reached Angela and he tapped her shoulder gently. She turned on her stool and looked at him, her eyebrow raised until she recognized the man in front of her.

''Shouldn't you and Bren be getting dirty in the ladies room by now?''

Booth smirked.

_Oh yes. _He thought. They so should be doing that now, except there was one tiny little problem.

''Can't find here anywhere. Don't think she's arrived yet. Has she phoned you by any chance?'' Angela gave him a smile and shook her head.

''She'd call you first Booth, you know that. Have you tried calling her?'' Booth shrugged in response. He had.

Multiple times, but every time he'd received her voicemail as answer. And to be honest that was starting to worry him. Not just because she could have been kidnapped by some crazy-ass fan – though he doubted that yet you could never know with her – but also because he wouldn't have anyone to kiss at midnight. He'd been planning the whole thing since a week. They would stand opposite each other, he'd take her hands. Everybody would be counting down and he'd keep looking into her eyes. Those amazing blue eyes.

And then, at midnight he'd kiss her, and she'd kiss back.

And afterwards he could blame everything on the tradition so she'd never know. So she'd never find out that he loved her. Everything about her from her wavy auburn hair to the shoes she wore.

''Okay. Five minutes to midnight guys! It's gonna be 2008 soon! Champaign glasses are on the bar!'' Sid shouted across the busy crowd and causing everyone to cheer. Booth smiled slightly and made his way to the door to see if his partner had arrived yet. The same line of cars were still parked in the street, except for the large blue jeep that had been there earlier. It was gone, leaving a parking spot for Brennan's car. If only she'd just show up.

His tongue darted out to moisten his lips and Booth took his hand out of his pocket to run it through his styled hair. Originally he'd wanted to spend the evening with his son, but of course Rebecca _had_ to take him to her parents, Parker's grandparents. After that plan got ruined Booth's intentions were to stay at home and drown in self-pity, but Sid had invited him to the new year's eve party that was currently goingon and Booth hadn't been able to decline. Mainly because Sid had told him that Brennan was going to be there as well. Or not. He himself had gotten here two hours earlier and he still hadn't seen a sign of his favourite forensic anthropologist.

''Booth, come on! Countdown time!'' Booth was forced out of his musings when Angela grabbed his upper-arm and forced him back to the others who were all facing the TV, their eyes sparkling and glasses of champaign in their hands, ready to toast to the new year. Soon Booth found himself standing in the middle of the crowd next to his squints. A glass of alcohol was pushed into his hands and the countdown begun.

''Ten!''

Everyone called and Booth rolled his eyes, quickly scanning the room once again for his partner. For a moment he thought he caught a glimpse of her auburn hair, but then noticed that it was the light bouncing of someone else's brown hair. She had to hurry.

''Nine!''

The hope was beginning to sink into his shoes. How was she possibly going to make it now? She'd have to run and she didn't even know what he had been planning on doing.

''Eight.''

It would be different than their first kiss. The mistletoe one. That had been quite awkward and not as good as he'd wanted it to be, good nevertheless, but not good enough.

''Seven!''

No this kiss was going to be the better work. Passionate. And he would definitely not pass the opportunity to hold onto her as tightly as he could, his hands roaming her body and maybe her hands raking through his hair. That was what he liked to imagine.

''Six!''

Not that he imagined it a lot. Or actually he did. Their first kiss had not been as expected, so he imagined their second one to be a real kiss. One that was full of passion. Love.

''Five.''

From his side anyway. He was good at reading people, but with his partner he sometimes had some trouble reading her. Sure he knew when she was sad, or happy, or frustrated about something, but at times she had this look on her face. And a certain sparkle in their eyes when they were together. Just the two of them.

''Four!''

Around him couples, and random people, were starting to move closer to each other, holding hands and looking into each other's eyes. Exactly the way he had planned on doing with his Bones. Yet she still wasn't there and it didn't seem like she was going to be there tonight.

''Three!''

Booth glanced at the glass in his hand and downed it before someone could stop him. God, this had to be the worst New year's eve ever. Except for the ones that he'd spent in Kosovo, without his family. Or maybe this one was the same. His friends were surrounding him yet he felt quite alone. Everyone was going to have a someone to kiss in less than three seconds. Even Zach.

''Two.''

A sigh escaped his lips. Why was he still here? Right because Angela would kill him if he left now, even though he doubted she would notice him leaving at this very moment she was too busy staring into Hodgins' blue eyes. Cliché.

''One!''

Okay, so he was officially feeling like a loser now.

''Happy New Year!'' Around him lips met and Booth put his glass down a little harder than he'd meant to. Great, just great. Great start of the New Year.

Booth turned around and started to head for the coat rack when he heard a female voice call his name behind him. He froze for a moment before turning around and facing the door of the restaurant. He barely had time to catch a glimpse of figure running towards him. Her auburn hair wet, mascara down her face and her clothes soaked when she jumped into his arms and crashed her lips on his.

Booth stumbled back slightly at the force she'd jumped into his arms with, but the bar behind him prevented him from falling and he found himself kissing back a smile on his face, his hands running up her back not caring that her wet clothes were soaking him too. The kiss ended way too soon for his liking, but the look on her face as he stared into his eyes couldn't help but bring a big goofy grin to his face anyway.

''Happy New year.'' She told him, a cute blush on her cheeks.

''Bones, what the hell took you so long?''

''Flat tyre. I ran the last few blocks. It's not easy to run in heels. Is there any champaign left?'' She smiled as he lowered he back to the ground, yet he didn't let go of her. A mischievous smile tugged at his lips and he shrugged.

''Don't know, but follow me. We need to work on something.'' And he grabbed her hand and took her back to the ladies' room to do exactly that what Angela had mentioned earlier. And he'd been right. The kiss was _so_ much better than the one they'd shared with Christmas.

Yeah, 2008 was now definately going to be a great year.

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_Have a good one :)_


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